HIV/AIDS

CARE's Freetown office has a wellness center that shares information on HIV/AIDS to local communities.

A common trend we observed in CARE's approach to HIV/AIDS prevention education was a focus on creating sustainable social infrastructure for the dissemination of relevant health information. We had the chance to observe Stepping Stones, a community-based HIV/AIDS education program which helps build an environment of trust and respect before educating villagers about the disease. This program is innovative in its separation of participants by gender and age in order to facilitate honest discussion. We also observed an HIV/AIDS awareness session in the rural village of Koromasilaya organized by the town's Community Health Club. The club is made up of both men and women who meet regularly with local CARE staff to learn about essential health topics such as basic hygiene and the importance of immunization.

Stepping Stones uses interactive games to educate communities about HIV/AIDS.

The meeting on HIV/AIDS was lead by a CARE staff member who facilitated a lively discussion. Many of the community members also possessed extensive knowledge about the disease and were able to accurately answer the CARE facilitator's questions about prevention methods and modes of transmission, a reflection of the club's educational success. What was most impressive about this session was the ability of CARE staff to field questions from the community members in a respectful yet appropriate manner. These questions ranged from "how do we know HIV/AIDS exists?" to "what are ways to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS?" Another aspect of CARE's HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns included the social marketing of condoms. The national government is also working to promote condom use and during our visit we constantly heard radio jingles and saw billboards spreading this message.

We made some other interesting observations regarding HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone: As we saw during the Community Health Club meeting in Koromasilaya, many people outside of the capital are skeptical of the existence of HIV/AIDS simply because they do not know anyone who has been infected. CARE's approach seems to be primarily one of prevention rather than facilitating access to treatment. This approach seems to have pros and cons; while it does not appear to focus on the need for increased access to Anti-retroviral drugs for those already infected, it may be addressing the route of the problem by stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS before it even starts.

Overall in our community visits, we were reassured to see that CARE would not simply lecture villagers on Western hygienic practices, but rather engage in honest conversation and debate surrounding HIV/AIDS, something we contribute to CARE's cultural sensitivity and active engagement with communities.